McIlroy may have redefined his championship run at Augusta National with a crucial second-nine stretch
AUGUSTA, Ga. — As the wind began to calm down ever so slightly, Rory McIlroy started running downhill in lockstep with the curvatures of Augusta National. The Northern Irishman who limped his way to the finish line just under 24 hours prior was bouncing about as if nothing had occurred. The patrons adopted him as one of their own, and despite having gone a decade without a major championship while coming excruciatingly close at various venues — none more pristine than this one — McIlroy made them believe he would be enshrined on these grounds soon enough.
It began with a dart — a stretch that could ultimately redefine McIlroy’s week and erase a horrendous 30-minute window Thursday evening where he carded two double bogeys that moved the 35-year-old from 4 under to even par, from flawless to flawed.
From the first page of the leaderboard to among the masses on page Nos. 3.
From “this is Rory’s Masters to win” to “this is like every other Masters for Rory.”
That was Thursday. McIlroy penned a new story Friday.
“I don’t think I proved anything,” he said after posting a 6-under 66 with an eagle and three birdies on a flawless second nine. “If anything, I just backed up the belief that I have in myself … that I’m as resilient as anyone else out here. … I’ve been really proud of how resilient I’ve been the whole way throughout my career, and I think today was just another example of that.”
McIlroy maneuvered a mid iron into a right pin location on the sloped 10th green to tap-in distance to kick off his second nine. Following another bogey-free, 1-under effort across his first nine, the Ulsterman pondered an approach from 177 yards. From the moment the club made contact with the ball, it painted the flagstick. Noise was brought to an otherwise quiet corner of the golf course, his name uttered throughout.
As McIlroy tapped in for his second birdie of the afternoon, 18-hole leader Justin Rose stepped to the tee box on the par-5 15th — just up the hill — unfazed. Surrounded by patrons of his own, his pack was fixated on what was occurring just down below. The Englishman didn’t skip a beat and continued his march to his first green jacket in his 20th try, ultimately getting in the clubhouse at 8 under, assuredly the leader heading into the weekend.
Meanwhile, McIlroy made his march towards making amends. Their paths once seemingly diverging now all but certain to converge.
| Player | Masters round of 66 or better |
|---|---|
|
Tiger Woods |
8 |
|
Rory McIlroy |
6 |
|
Jordan Spieth |
6 |
|
Jack Nicklaus |
6 |
A booming drive to open play at Amen Corner left McIlroy with 160 yards into the green that lurked below. Name any large building structure in the world; it could have been built between his tee shot and those of playing partners Ludvig Åberg and Akshay Bhatia. Patrons had to physically turn their bodies to watch their second shots before turning back to watch McIlroy’s ball flight.
He took it further by turning their heads with his next.
Another sawed-off approach produced another stellar result and another 3 on the scorecard. With honors on the next, McIlroy received a champion’s welcome and now faced a decision: ride your luck following two of the best iron swings of the round and go for perhaps the most accessible pin on the treacherous par 3 that has both won and lost Masters of the past … or play the sensible shot.
It was a shot which will get lost in the madness of the round and perhaps the weekend — especially when one considers what happened just a few moments later — but it was one that shows the true growth of McIlroy’s game. While the result was a tugged tee shot left and long, a line to the middle of the green over the bunker made it so he was still in play.
Rory made another 3 with one of his worst swings of the day. Augusta National is as much about misses as it is hits, perhaps more so; McIlroy ensured no blemishes would find his scorecard.
From scrambling for a save to finding the pine straws, McIlroy had no decision to make this time. He knew he would go for the green in two on the par-5 13th as he bent down to examine his lie. Pulling pine straw around his golf ball as if he was playing a game of Operation, the four-time major champion wielded a 4 iron as his instrument of choice.
A conservative line was the clear intention but not the end result. Lined up to the left side of the green, McIlroy made his pass and watched as his ball sailed right of the original thought.
“That’s wet,” a patron groaned.
Not quite.
“When the ball was in the air, I was like, ‘You idiot, what did you do?’ It’s one of those ones, as well, it’s a pin that even if you do hit it into the hazard, it’s … not a routine up-and-down, but it’s a little easier than, say, where the pin was [Thursday] in that front section,” McIlroy saiid. “Yeah, I rode my luck a little bit with that second shot, but was nice to take advantage of it.”
McIlroy’s second settled nearly 9 feet away from a watery grave and 9 feet away from the pin itself. That it settled on dry land mattered most. He bent down, exhaled and let out a chuckle knowing he might have gotten away with one.
Breaks are needed across 72 holes of major championship golf, and it was the first time in 31 holes at Augusta National this year that one finally went his way.
What’s getting a break, though, if you don’t take advantage of it? McIlroy did just that.
He started his second nine 3-3-3-3 moving from 1 under to 5 under, and more specifically, within striking distance heading into the most important weekend of his career. Another birdie on the par-5 16th inched him even closer to Rose, and a few nice par saves to close the round ensured sure he held firm at 6 under only two adrift.
“I was just looking for my name,” McIlroy quipped looking at the leaderboard. “I was not really worried about the others.”
